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On Monday, U.S. oil prices fell below zero for the first time ever, shocking observers and raising doubts about the solvency of oil and gas companies coming out of the coronavirus crisis and the oil selling war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. These negative prices were distressing news for the U.S. economy, threatening livelihoods of oil and gas workers and the availability of the gasoline Americans will need after the crisis ends. Yet Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) saw them as a reason to celebrate. "You absolutely love to see it," AOC tweeted. "This along with record low interest rates means...

Facebook didn't provide much confidence in its ability to navigate the uncharted waters of a pandemic in the age of Big Tech on Monday. Experiencing a pandemic on the scale of the Wuhan coronavirus in the age of Big Tech is a journey into uncharted territory, making the industryÂ’s often cozy relationship with the political class a recipe for new abuses of personal data and speech policing. Facebook didnÂ’t provide much confidence in its ability to navigate these waters on Monday. At first, the company seemed to be bragging about its work with state governments to remove posts promoting protests...

Hundreds of National Guard personnel are being activated in Iowa as coronavirus sweeps through meat-processing plants in a state that accounts for about a third of U.S. pork supply. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said 250 National Guard members have been moved to full-time federal duty status and could help with testing and contact tracing for workers at plants operated by Tyson Foods Inc. and National Beef Packing Co. ...

The U.S. government has extensive contingency plans in place for an eventual death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that factor in expectations of a mass-scale humanitarian crisis inside the country, Fox News has learned. Sources discussed those plans amid conflicting reports about the reclusive North Korean leader's health. Those same sources urge caution about these reports, which have claimed he's facing serious health issues after a cardiovascular procedure. While his condition is unclear, a well-placed defense intelligence source told Fox News on Tuesday that the U.S. government has extensive plans in place for when Kim is gone, taking...

Learn How To Make Compost. Save money, have a healthier garden, and healthier soil. WATCH THE VIDEO...

President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered key figures in his administration to put together a plan to get funding to the struggling U.S. oil and gas industries as a historic selloff in crude continued. “I have instructed the Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the Treasury to formulate a plan which will make funds available so that these very important companies and jobs will be secured long into the future!” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning, as West Texas Intermediate crude futures for May delivery again traded in negative territory.

I was out this beautiful Tennessee morning, walking in the yard, on the street, amongst the weeds and flowers. The sun is shining. It rained again last night. It’s clean. I began to pick and taste the wild greens and flowers. Then I did some easy calisthenics, and some Greek Yoga™. I thought about the simplicity of it all, and how I’ve always been like this. I realized—dang, I’m a conservative hippie! I try to live close to nature. I eat raw food (sometimes!). I don’t take many supplements, and those of those only natural like apple cider vinegar. I...

In a world of "lies, damned lies, and statistics," we should consult the SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) source data to understand the current numbers and the methodology for classifying new cases and deaths. According to the CDC website, as of April 18, there were 690,714 total cases and 35,442 total deaths. A footnote says the total cases include 1,282 probable cases and the total deaths include 4,226 probable deaths, which is 12% of the total deaths after only four days of counting probable deaths. This is probably the result of the new definition of "probable death" (see below). The CDC began counting...

Pizzas could be getting a little heavier, if Dairy Management Inc. has its say in the matter. DMI CEO Tom Gallagher said the organization, which manages the national dairy checkoff on behalf of 35,000 farmers, is working with several pizza chains on adding 2 additional ounces of cheese to “as many pizzas as they’re able to put it on.” The effort is one of several initiatives DMI is working on to lessen impacts on farmers due to an oversupply of milk. “We’ve got to try a ton of different things, and hopefully they will help,” Gallagher said during an April...

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armers who are facing loss of income directly due to the COVID-19 pandemic may have the unprecedented opportunity to collect unemployment insurance benefits. Falling into the category of self-employed, farmers and ranchers have historically been ineligible for unemployment insurance, but the CARES Act, signed by President Donald Trump on March 27, has opened the possibility, said Rachel Armstrong, founder and executive director of Farm Commons, which provides legal services to farmers, during a webinar. “This is a big change,” Armstrong said. “Disaster assistance in some ways has always been available to the self-employed, but that has been a very narrow...

MISHAWAKA, Ind. (WSBT) — When you think of blaze orange vests, you probably think of hunters. But there's a deer in the Mishawaka area rocking that same look. The video was captured by WSBT. You can see the deer and his bright orange vest snacking in the woods with some other deer. The yearling looks pretty cute in his vest. Cute enough that you might want to pet him. Department of Natural Resources Patrol Officer Matt Maher said that's probably how the deer got his fashionable look — someone adopted a fawn as a pet. "Obviously a deer grows at...

The number of black bears has QUADRUPLED at Yosemite since the park closed due to coronavirus as the beasts migrate there while visitors stay away 'The National Park Service (NPS) is working with the federal, state, and local authorities to closely monitor the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation.' Ranger Katie, a biologist who's worked with black bears for over a decade, said in a Facebook live stream video that the animals are now having a 'party' since humans have been barred from visiting. There can be literally walls of cars, stop-and-go traffic or people in the park,' she said. 'So, for...

For decades, China has waged an espionage war with the United States, exploiting America's comparatively open society and free-market economy to steal critical information, trade secrets and technology tools. But as the coronavirus, officially termed COVID-19, continues to assault the globe – Beijing is upping its spy game on U.S. soil with a focus on manipulating the narrative, officials and experts say.

After pictures of lions sun-bathing on empty Kruger National Park roads were shared across the world – the big cats are back, this time “patrolling” the streets of the Skukuza staff village. In a tweet, SanParks joked that the lions were “enforcing” the national lockdown among its staff. Skukuza, situated on the southern banks of the Sabie River, is the park's largest rest camp and administrative headquarters. It is also currently under lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19. Pictures - taken by Johan Malan, who’s with SanPark’s veterinary services - show the lions walking on the deserted roads inside...

We can't know what Mark Twain, who died 110 years ago today, would have said about the Coronavirus but here is what he had to say about truth in newspapers and about buying life insurance for railroad travel: https://freedom-demokrasi-and-civilised-humanity.com/2020/04/21/remembering-mark-twain-and-media-driven-fear-of-death/ “Where we have one newspaper that does good, I think we have fifty that do harm.” “....... the stupid people — who constitute the grand overwhelming majority of this and all other nations — do believe and are moulded and convinced by what they get out of a newspaper, and there is where the harm lies.” Was Mark Twain better than...

President Trump said Monday that adequate coronavirus testing existed but was being underutilized by governors, following a chorus of complaints by state leaders and health care experts regarding the country’s insufficient testing capacity. The White House last week issued guidelines on a three-tiered approach for states to begin easing coronavirus restrictions. But many state officials have said that they do not yet have the capacity to aggressively test for new COVID-19 cases. Trump has been resistant to states’ demands for additional testing help. During the Monday daily coronavirus task force briefing, Trump said that public-private partnerships had significantly expanded the...

Fundamental constitutional liberties at stake. Americans understand the extraordinary circumstances in which we find ourselves as a result of the China coronavirus. But we will not allow ourselves to become infected with the disease of Chinese authoritarianism. We have been willing to radically alter our normal routines and obey strict social distancing guidelines to get past the worst of this pandemic. Indeed, the American people have made extraordinary sacrifices and endured economic hardships unprecedented in our lifetimes to slow the virus’s spread. But it’s one thing to temporarily disrupt the normal pattern of our day-to-day lives and the economy in...

Generally, when a buyer is defrauded of services, the demand for the goods diminishes. As more emerges of what colleges and universities across this country are not doing, the demand will dry up unless there are drastic changes. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has published a report titled "What Will They Learn?" It is a survey of core requirements at our nation's colleges and universities and one does not need a Ph.D. to comprehend the paucity of education now apparent in far too many places. In fact, "for over a decade, ACTA has expressed concern that rising...

Over the last week, thousands of frustrated Americans gathered at state capitols in Michigan, Ohio, California, Minnesota, and other states to protest stay-at-home orders from totalitarian progressive leaders such as Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, who argue that the lockdowns are crucial to containing the coronavirus. But with literally tens of millions of Americans losing their jobs and their businesses, and the economy collapsing with the worst possibly to come, Americans are legitimately complaining that the draconian cure is shaping up to be worse than the disease. Speaker of the House and nepotism-enthusiast Nancy Pelosi decried the protesters, of course:...